Refrigerating apparatus



Oct. 8, 1929. H. w. DYER 1,730,494

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed May 8, 1925 s Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENT-IOR.

Patented a. a, 1929- for:

max w. DYER, or-imw 101m; iv. Y. 1

nnrnmaaa'rrxe APPARATUS Application area ma a,

' This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus of a portable type such as are used in homes and particularly relates to the const ruction of such apparatus in the arrangement of thecooling chamber, the arrangement of the shelves, the heat-insulating of the walls and other details whereby the efiiciency of such devices is increased, as more particularly described in .thefollowing specification'and shown in the accompany drawings, in which, Fi l, is an elevation of an ice box constructe according to my invention, Fig. 2, is a sectional elevation corresponding to Fig. 1, Fig. '3 is a transverse cross-section of-Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a detail of one means for securing the sectlons of the ice box together, Fig. 4 js a fragmentary plan view, Fig. 5, is an elevation, partly in section,

showing the. arrangement of shelves, Fig.- 6 is a plan view of the shelves, Fig. 7 is a detail insection showing a tray on the shelf, and Fig. 8 shows a circular type of ice box using my invention and including a mechanical'refrigerating system. I

This invention contemplates an ice box constructed in multiple units which may be increased or decreased as desired. These'units are built one upon the other upon matched walls and are securely clamped together.

39 The food orcooling chamber of the ice box is preferably circular in shapewith shelves arranged to rotate upon a. central shaft or stem. Where the box has a square exterior, the corners are used. to house the cooling as medium which may be in the form-of a triangular tank with a refrigerating coil or a tank of this shape filled with chopped ice. These tanks are preferably of such length as to extend from the top to the bottom of the cooling chamber whereby the refrigerating efiect is evenly distributed throughoutthe cooling chamber. The shelves in the food chamber are detachableand forsanitary reasons areconstructed without pockets. The shelves support the food trays which are 5 formed in a segment of a circle to fill the circular shelves. .Thei'wallsof the 'ice'box are insulated by vacuum tanks enclosed in the wall structure. the eirculartype of 1925. Serial No. 28,863.-

ice box the vacuum tank itself forms the walls of the box. I

Referring to. the drawings, the ice box in Flg. 1 comprises the upper. compartment 21 with the door 22 and the lower compartment 24 with the door 25. A cover 23 is applied 4 on top of 21. These compartments are placed over the base 26 which, in the present case, houses the refrigerating mechanism used to cool the compartments 21 and 24.

The walls of the compartments are matched as shownin section inFig. 2 between the members 27. and 28 enclosing a groove or a rubber. gasket 30. The members 27 and 28 are clamped together by the screws 29 at the corners, which are preferably located in de ressions in the walls so as not to project yond the plane of the walls. It will be noted that the section 21 may be removed and cover 23 placed on top of section 24, the walls being arranged to match; also it'will be noted that any number of sections similar to 21 may be erected one upon the other and clamped together to, form a single ice box. This construction in multiple units enables the ice box to be increased or decreased in size-with the greatest convenience. The rubv ber gasket 30 provides an air tight seal between the'seetions' and the groove is arranged in the upper part so that pockets cannot develop in the joint-to hold moisture. A removable separating shelf 33 may be provided lBi etween the compartments as indicated in A wooden ice box of the square type with panelled walls is indicated in the section drawing in Fig. 3. In this case the door 25 is provided with a heat insulating material 31 and a similar hea insulator is provided in the side pockets a 32. The other walls as shown, are heat insulated b thevacuum tanks 151, 152 and 154 enclose and protected by the panelling of the walls as shown.- These tanks are provided with internal spacers 155 to prevent internal collapse dueto atmospheric pressure. v

Ice boxes constructed according to my inven'tion'which have revolving shelves are provided with a central shaft 41 having a cup-shaped bearing 43 at the lower end turning on the cone 42 on the bottom shelf. The top of this shaft in the upper section is engaged by the sleeve 44 which is rotated by the indexed hand wheel 45 located in a depression on the cover. This enables the shelves of the upper section to be turned to any predetermined position before the door is opened. The top of shaft 41 in the lower sections turns in the cup-shaped depression in shelf 33 as shown.

. The. shaftcarries a plurality of radiating arms such as 46 and 47 which support the food trays 48 and 49 in tiers, these trays being removedthrough the doorsby rotating the shaft until they are opposite the doors. Rotating the shelves introduces a tendency, to overturn bottles or other utensils placed thereon. To guard against this I provide a skeleton support 50 which may be pivoted on the shaft by .a sleeve 51 and which contains a number of perforations 53, 54 and 55 to support utensils such as the milk bottle 52; it is I apparent that the part 50 may be shaped to support any object placed onthe shelves.

The detail construction of the shelves is shown in Figs. 5, 6 and 7. A collar with double flanges 61 and 62* is placed upon a shoulder of the shaft 41. These flanges are perforated to receive the pivots of the bracket arms 63 and in the normal position these arms are radially spaced about the centre shaft. The bracket arms are provided with a separating ridge 65 which acts as guide for the tray 66 and are provided with perforated lugs 64 which are formed in a depression as shown in section in Fig. 7 to be engaged by the depression 67 of the tray 66. This holds the tray in place so that it cannot move outwards by centrifugal. action as the by raising up to clear the pivots of the flanges and the collar can be raised on the shaft to clean'the place where it seats.

The revolving shelves permit of the concentration of articles in the food chamber which are readily accessible and the-trays on the shelves form practically a cylinder-which prevents the escape of the cold air when the door is opened. In general, it will be observed that the cold air cannot escape to an extent beyond that occupied by a tray which is removed." It is to be noted that the hinged arrangement of the bracket arms enables the trays and brackets for a segment to be re moved, or the trays may be removed and the bracket arms turned to the side as at 63*, Fig. 8. This provides an enlarged space in the cooling chamber for any special purpose,

arise.

The foodchambers are cooled by vertical which is readily convertible as the need may tanks which, in the case of the square ice box with the round shelves takes advantage of the corner spaces for this purpose as indicated by the tanks 138, 141, 144-and 149, Fig. 3. These tanks are triangular in shape to fit the corners and the outer side may be curved to conformto the contour of the revolving shelves. These tanks'extend from the top tothe bottom of the compartmen'. as indicated in Fig. 2 and for the ordinary ice box may be filled with ice but in the v present. construction, i which contemplates use of a mechanical refrigerator, refrigerating'coils or evaporators 137, 140, 143 and 148- are placed in these tanks and connected by the pipes 139, 142 and 145 and ultimately connected to the refrigerating system hereafter described. These tanks may be filled-with brine, water, alcohol or similar fluid which will give up its heat to the refrigerating coil and thereby store and distribute arefrigerating effect at a plurality of points extending throughout the refrigcrating chamber. It may be observed at this point that an ice box having a separate compartment filled with ice doesnot produce a temperature in an adjacent food chamber much below 45 F. With the arrangement shown a more uniform low temperature can be obtained in the food chamber without producing ice in the cooling tanks and the liquid stores the refrigerating effect for a definite interval. The tank 138 when filled with drinking water, may be -provided with a draw-off tap at 73 whereby a supply of cold drinking water is available. The same arrangement is shown in Fig. 8 in connection with the cooling tank 141 which filled at 72 and drawn off at 73. When the ice box is built. in sections, each compartment is providedwith its own cooling tanks as indicated in Fig. 2. The coils in these tanks may be connected as between 141 and'141 by the union 91 .and a similar connection is made at 91 between tanks 144 and 144 upon 21, the caps 92 are removed and connections similar to 91 are used between the When another section is placed tanks.

This invention is shown as equipped with a mechanical refrigerating apparatus similar to that disclosed in application, Serial No. 27,071 filed April '30, 1925 in the name of Herman Scharnagel. In this system air is used as the refrigerating medium. The apparatus comprises a motor 17 controlled by a thermostat 159, Fig. 8 which is inserted in may be the compressor air is an open ended tube in tank 141 and connect ed by wires 156 and '157 to the cooling tanks, returning by pipe 146 to the compressor and completing the circuit.

The make-up' pump-15 is connected to the condenser coil as shown in Fig. 8 and the vacuum pump 16 connects by pipe 114 with the vacuum tanks forming the' exterior walls of the cooling chamber. may be connected to each other as by the pipe 114 Fig. 2. The condenser coil is cooled by the fan 133. v I

The circular refrigerator shown in Fig. 8 is rovided with an annular'cooling tank I 141 which forms the interior Walls of the 71. This construction, it will be noted 'procooling chamber. This tank is heat insulated by the vacuum tank 156 which forms the exterior annular walls tanks have a sectorcut away opposite the door vides a comparativelyxthin wall and consequently economizesspace.

It is observed that in the ordinary square type of ice box a large part of the interior cannot be utilized owing free passage across the shelves to make the Even with a free passage, articles are frequently spilled and are troublesome to clean up. By the use of circular shelves the articles thereon can be more concentrated and at the's a'me time.

readily accessible and when these articles are placed around the centreof revolving shelves each article can be reached by itsel without fouling with other articles .on the same shelf.

This invention relates to the construction of the refrigerator box and the arrangement of the cooling coils. for the refrigerating'unit, nor for the re- I frigerant, which areadapted from thepriorart and are referred .to herein in'a generic sense only. The rejrigerating coils 137, 140,

' 143 and 148 are usually varied in form accordingto the refrigerant used and these coils are intended to include a full range of equivalent. 7 I a Having thus described my invention, I

claim: 7 v

1. In a refrigerator of the class'described,

. the combination of a plurality of rectangular cooling chambers constructed in multiple and battery 158 with the motor; thus when the temperatureofthe The vacuum tanks I of the device. These No novelty is claimed.

units and forming when assembled, a continuous cooling chamber, an independent refrigerating element in each unit extending substantially throughout the length of said ,unit, .saidelements 'detachably connected within said cooling chamber and means for;

circulating a refrigerating medium through each of said independent refrigerating ele- 1 ments.. I 2. In 'a refrigerator of the class described,

rectangular chambers without ends with a cover with means for the end of the last chamcooling chamber, securing the same on her, a cooling coil in each of said chambers connected to form a continuous vertical cooling coil entirely within said continuous cool- 3 ing chamber and means for circulating a refrigcrating' medium through said cooling coil.

3. In a the combination ,of a plurality" of cooling chambers arranged inmultiple units witha door for'each' unit, said units forming a continuous-cooling chamber, a c entral shaft in each'unit, shelves rotatably supported by said shafts and means whereby the shelves in each unit may be rotated independently of each other. 4. In a refrigerator 0' the class described, the combination of a lurality of cooling chambers constructed in multiple units with a door for each unit and" forming, when assembled, a continuous cooling chamber, a centhe junction of the units and shelves rotata-' blysupportedb said shafts.

5. In'.a.l1ouse old refrigerator of .the class described,thecombination of'a plurality of cooling chambers constructed in multiple units and forming, when assembled, a conrefrigerator of the class described, 1

'tral shaft in each unit having a bearing at to the need'for atinuous vertical cooling chamber, a vertical refrigerating element 1n each unit, means connecting'the top and bottom of adjacent elements within said cooling chamber and means for circulating a refrigerating medium through each of said refrigerating elements.

6. In a household refrigerator of the class described, the combination of a' plurality of rectangular cooling'chambers constructed in multiple units and forming, a continuous cooling chamber, an elongated vertical refrigerating element in each unit placed in alignment with 'each other and 4 operatively connected within said cooling chamber and meansfor circulating a refrigerating medium through said refrigerating elements. y

7 In a household refrigerator of the class when assembled described,'the combination of a plurality ofrectangular cooling and forming, when 'assembledt'a continuous chambers'constructed in v ,multiple units arranged one above'jthe other the combination'ofa plurality of similar 75 u u A Q vertical cooling chamber, a vertical refrigerating element in each unit in alignment with each 'other and operatively -connected Within said cooling chamber and means for 5 circulating a refrigerating medium through each of said elements. 1 8. In a refrigerator ofthe class describ'ed,the combinationof a cooling chamber constructed of a plurality of similar units arranged in' I vertical tiers and capable of being varied in 7 size according to the number of units used 9 and averticalelongated refrigerating element associated with each of said units, said elements being connected. together within said. 4 cooling chamber. v g

9. In a refrigerator of the'class described, the combination of a cooling chamber cons'tructed of a plurality of similar units arranged in vertical tiers and capable of being varied in size according to the number of units used, a vertical cooling coil in each of said units, said coils having their ends conv nected between'said tiers and extending sub- L stantially the length of saidunits and means ,25 for circulating a refrigerating medium.

through each of said coils.

1O. In a portable refrigerator as described, the c'ombinatio'n a housing having a plurality of compartments, one of whiclf contains Water 0 and is provided with a spigot outlet and a plurality of cooling elements each comprising an evaporator, one of said evaporators being arranged tocool the water in said compartment, a refrigerating unit in said house ing'comprising a'motor, a pump and a radiator, means connecting said refrigerating unit with said evaporators' and a thermostat in q one of said compartments controlling the cir-,

cuit of said motor. 4o 11. In a portable refrigerator as described, the combination, a housing having a plurality of'cooling elements, said cooling elements each having a refrigerating coil, a Water tank in said housing with a draw-off tap for drinkin water, one of said coils associated with I sald water tank to cool said drinking water,

.a unit comprising a vmotor, a pump and a l radiator, nieans connecting said pump, radia- I tor and said refrigerating coils in series and p a thermostat in said housing automatically controllingthe operation of said motor. I Signed at New; York, county and State of New York, this 4th day of May, 1925.

' HARRY W. DYER. 

